


Remnants of Stars

by tiredandgay



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/F, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 21:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15494658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiredandgay/pseuds/tiredandgay
Summary: Beau shot Yasha her most winning smile, remembering her coaching from Fjord to make sure it was as inviting as possible. “If I’d known there’d be such a good view I’d have gotten a tattoo way earlier.”Beau is a tired, gay paramedic, off to get her first tattoo. But she gets more than she bargained for when the tattoo artist ends up being ridiculously gorgeous.





	Remnants of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't get the image of Yasha with a sleeve of flowers out of my head, this is the result. Bit of Beau & Fjord friendship at the start, rated T for language.

Beau sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, struggling to resist the urge to check her watch for the twelfth time in the past 5 minutes. She was already going to be an hour late off her shift, she may as well just accept it. 

Even Fjord’s endless well of patience was beginning to run dry. “Ma’am, there really is nothing we can do for you. You have no visible injuries, and you can walk just fine – all you’ve done is stub your toe. You really don’t need to go to hospital.”

The old woman who’s name Beau had already forgotten blinked owlishly, looking from Fjord to Beau and back again. “Are you sure? I think it’s broken, it really hurts!”

“Look, even if it was broken, they aren’t going to do anything for a broken toe in hospital, they won’t even x-ray it. We’ve given you a full check over and you’re fine. Now, do you need a hand to get back into bed?” The woman shook her head, and Beau fist pumped internally. “Alright, I’ve left the paperwork on your table. See ya.” Beau had had enough – grabbing her assessment bag, she darted out of the patient’s house, making a beeline for the ambulance. 

Beau hopped up into the driver’s seat and started up the engine before Fjord was even out of the house, covering her face with her hands and letting out a long-suffering sigh.

“Well that was some fuckin’ bullshit,” Fjord grumbled, heaving himself into the seat beside her. They looked at each other, before both bursting into laughter. “Calling for a stubbed toe! Only job I’ve been to that was stupider than this was someone who stood on a lego.”

Beau coughed a little as she composed herself. “I dunno how you’ve got so much patience, man. I’ve got no time for people like that.”

“You’ll get better at it, just takes a little work.” Fjord shot her a reassuring smile. “We best be gettin’ back to base – you don’t want to miss your appointment.”

Beau groaned, having been so wrapped up in the pain of being an hour late off her shift, she’d completely forgotten about her plans for the day. “Fuck, don’t remind me. The next 5 hours are gonna be hell. Why’d I agree to do a shift the night before getting my first tattoo again?”

Fjord chuckled. “’Cause Vorsa batted her eyelashes at you, and you’re a sucker for a pretty face.”

“Ugh. Why am I like this.” Beau grumbled, starting the engine to begin the long, tired journey home.

*

Beau rolled her aching shoulders, grateful for the heat of the water spilling over them. After a gruelling 13 hour shift – during which she’d been thrown up on twice – all she wanted was to spread out on her bed and pass the fuck out.

Questioning her life decisions, Beau reluctantly stepped out into the cold of the bathroom, knowing if she stayed any longer she wouldn’t be able to leave for another hour, and would miss her appointment at Curiosities Tattoo Parlour. Beau checked she’d remembered to shave her upper arm, before pulling on a sports bra big enough to pass as a crop top and a pair of faded blue harem trousers. She looked like she was exhausted and wearing pyjamas, but that asshole at the studio would just have to deal.

Beau poked her head past the bathroom door, checking to make sure Jester wasn’t awake yet. As much as she liked her bubbly roommate, some people were just too hard to deal with at 8 o clock in the morning. 

Satisfied the coast was clear, Beau grabbed some cold bacon out of the fridge, stuffing it in her mouth as she ran out the door. 

*

“Hey, I’ve got an appointment with, uh, Mollymauk?” Beau fiddled with the piercings in her ear as the girl before her continued to type away at her computer, as though she hadn’t heard her. The girl looked young, and Beau couldn’t help but wonder how she had a job in a tattoo studio. “At nine.”

“You’re late.” There was a pause and for a second Beau thought she was going to be turned away, which at this point really wouldn’t be so bad, before the girl glanced up at her. “But lucky for you, Molly called in sick today. Yasha will be doing it instead, she’s looking over the design and setting everything up now. Sign this consent form, then take a seat and she’ll be through in a minute.”

“Oh, okay, cool.” Beau read through the form, confirming that no, she didn’t have hepatitis, before filling in her details at the bottom of the sheet. She frowned as she sat in the little waiting area – sure that Molly guy had seemed obnoxious, but his work was brilliant, and his design for her tattoo had been exactly what she wanted. For the first time since she decided what she wanted, Beau felt a bit apprehensive – not nervous, though, she never got nervous about anything. Well, except talking to pretty girls, but that didn’t really apply to this situation. 

“Um, Beauregard?”

Beau stood up, ready to tell this artist if they fucked up her first tattoo there’d be hell to pay, and got her first proper look at her. And shit, was she hot. Like, really, really hot: muscular in all the right places, with a striking black and white tattoo of a storm running from her shoulder to her elbow on her right arm, and a sleeve of gorgeous watercolour flowers on her left. She also, curiously, had a black line running from her bottom lip and over her chin. And she was exactly Beau’s type.

As Beau gazed at the woman before her, Yasha began to shift uncomfortably, and Beau, realising she’d probably been staring at her for quite some time, jumped to her feet.

“Hey! Uh, just Beau is fine,” Beau shot Yasha her most winning smile, remembering her coaching from Fjord to make sure it was as inviting as possible. “If I’d known there’d be such a good view I’d have gotten a tattoo way earlier.”

Steadfastly ignoring the scoff coming from the girl behind the counter, Beau sauntered over to Yasha, who seemed unaffected by her words.

“Right this way, Beau.” Yasha led the shorter girl through to the actual studio, a small but clean room with red walls and dark leather furniture. 

Too busy swooning over Yasha’s gentle voice saying her name, it took Beau a second to grasp the reality of her situation. As she positioned herself comfortably in the chair with her left arm next to the table of inks, Beau got her first look at the needle that would imminently be inside of her arm. Looking for a distraction, Beau turned once more to the striking woman next to her. 

“So, did you get a chance to look at the design I wanted?”

Yasha sprayed a paper towel with something that smelled suspiciously like hand sanitiser, running the wet paper over Beau’s arm, who flinched a bit at the unexpected cold. “The rod of Asclepius, yes. It’s a design I’m familiar with, but I like the little changes you’ve made to the classic design. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Yasha flashed Beau a small smile that definitely did the job of distracting her from what was about to happen. 

Yasha placed a piece of paper bearing the design over Beau’s bicep, and pulled it away to reveal a blue outline of the rod of Asclepius. “Are you happy with this size and placement?” Asked Yasha, holding up a mirror by Beau’s arm. 

Trying not to get distracted by the memory of Yasha’s soft hands on her arm, Beau nodded, and tried not to let her nervousness show on her face as Yasha picked up the tattoo needle and began bringing it toward her skin. It didn’t look long necessarily, and was certainly smaller than the needles she stabbed people with on a regular basis, but it was wicked sharp. Beau took to staring at the tattoos on Yasha’s arms, the intricate artwork serving to remind her of why she was here, and how awesome her tattoo was going to look at the end of this.

“Are you ready?” Yasha looked up toward Beau, poised with the needle already dipped in black ink. Beau noticed for the first time that Yasha had different coloured eyes – one pale blue and one bright green. Allowing herself to get a little lost in them, she nodded, and Yasha brought the needle down toward her skin.

*

All things considered, it really didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. Sure, it felt like a sort of burning, and it stung like a bitch whenever Yasha wiped that hand sanitiser stuff over it, but it was nowhere near as bad as she’d worried it would be. If anything, the pain wasn’t what bothered her the most – it was the boredom. 

Yasha hadn’t said a word since she’d began tattooing, hadn’t looked up from where she was hunched over Beau’s arm. Which would have been fine, really – in fact Beau tended to prefer people when they didn’t talk to her. But she really liked Yasha’s soft voice, and her phone was dead, so it’s not like she had anything to do except talk. Trouble was, Beau wasn’t much of a conversationalist. Which was normally fine: when she talked to Fjord it was normally about work, or booze, two things that she understood. And when she talked with Jester, well, she didn’t have to say a word and they could still have a two hour conversation. Beau just wasn’t used to leading a conversation that wasn’t about someone’s health, but it was beginning to look like she’d have to bite the bullet and take the lead on this one. 

Clearing her throat and shifting in her seat, Beau racked her brain for a topic that would hopefully get Yasha talking, and give her the impression that Beau was interested. Like, super interested – as in, she really wanted to find out if Yasha had any more tattoos kind of interested. 

“So you, uh, come here often?” Beau cringed internally – of course she came here often it’s where she worked for Ioun’s sake.

Pausing in her ministrations, Yasha sat back and tilted her head at Beau, which looked ridiculously adorable. “Um, yes. I work here whenever I’m in town. Now, I’m finished with the outline, so I’m going to start the shading. Some people think this is a bit more painful so, would you like to take a break before I start?”

Keenly aware that her depleted energy reserves were fading fast, Beau shook her head, not wanting this session to last any longer than it had to. “Nah I’m good - I can handle it.”

“Okay.” Yasha turned back to the table next to her, fiddling with the tattoo machine in her hand. When she turned back around, there were five fucking needles attached to the end of it. 

“Uh why…why are there five needles now? Five seems a bit excessive, y’know? I’m sure one is enough.” Beau bit at her bottom lip, feeling her nerves grow again. Her pain threshold was normally higher, but she’d been awake for well over 20 hours now and the exhaustion was taking its toll.

Yasha smiled her cute little smile again. “I only use one needle for the linework but I have to use a few more for the shading. Don’t be scared, I find five to be more comfortable than one, personally.”

Beau puffed out her chest, well as much as she could from where she was slouched in the giant chair. “I’m not scared. It just seems a bit unnecessary, is all. But hey, you’re the expert. Bring it on.”

After the absence of a needle under her skin, the presence of five at once was jolting, and Beau tensed her muscles to stop from flinching away from them.  
“Try and relax, if you tense it will hurt more.” Yasha gently brushed her fingers down the side of Beau’s bicep, taking care to avoid the fresh ink, and Beau breathed out deeply, relaxing into the touch.

Beau continued to take deep, calming breaths as she tried to remember what normal people liked to talk about. Some old advice from Fjord echoed in her head: for the love of God, do not talk to pretty girls about weird medical shit, they will not think it’s cool, they’re just gonna think it’s gross and you’re weird. “So, this place seems pretty nice. How long have you worked here?”

“On and off for the past 2 years. I just come in to help out Molly.”

Beau scoffed. “You actually like that asshole? I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s good at what he does, but God is he annoying.”

Yasha smiled again, and Beau internally celebrated that she had managed to make her smile for the second time in a few short minutes. “Yes, I like him. He’s a good person, even if he is…eccentric.”

Beau snorted. “You could say that again.” There was a further lull in the conversation, but Beau was determined to keep it going. “Why did you decide to become a tattoo artist?”

“I didn’t.” Yasha paused to wipe Beau’s arm down, before the buzzing of the needles resumed. “Molly is the artist, we were bored one Summer and he taught me how to do what he did. I got my licence so I could help him out when he got his own studio, and here we are.” Yasha shrugged nonchalantly, running over a particularly sensitive part of her arm.

Beau gritted her teeth, leaning back in the chair; which was so big it practically swallowed her. She focused on breathing through the discomfort, and contemplated whether or not the other woman actually wanted to talk to her – Beau had started the conversation, and Yasha was still less than forthcoming with information. Resigning herself to silence, Beau tried to relax into the soft leather beneath her. 

The quiet stretched on, and Beau struggled to fight back sleep. She kept slowly nodding off, and groggily waking whenever the needles hit a particularly painful spot. After a good 3 hours of disjointed napping, Beau was startled awake by Yasha standing up to stretch, her back popping as she did. 

“Sorry, I’m beginning to seize up. Just need to stretch. “She raised her hands high above her head, causing her grey vest to ride up, revealing a stretch of pale skin that Beau really wanted to kiss. 

Shaking herself out of her inappropriate fantasies, Beau nodded, taking the opportunity to stretch out her own kinks. “Yeah sure, no problem.” Cracking her neck, Beau glanced down at her tattoo, pleasantly surprised to see that it was nearly finished, and exactly what she wanted. 

“Shouldn’t take me long to finish the rest.” Yasha flexed her fingers, and Beau tried not to think of what else those fingers could do. 

As Yasha resumed tattooing, Beau realised that her opportunity to ask Yasha out was rapidly slipping away. Beau played with her earrings while she gathered the courage speak to up again.

“So, I know you said you go out of town a lot…are you staying for long this time?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Yasha wiped Beau’s arm down one last time, before holding up a mirror. “How does it look?”

Beau blinked, blown away by the sight before her. “Holy shit, I can’t believe that’s on my arm! Thank you so much, Yasha, seriously, it looks amazing.”

Yasha ducked her head, blushing, before spreading coconut butter over the raw skin, and covering it with cling film. “No problem. Here’s a brochure about how to look after it properly.” Their fingers brushed as Beau took the flyer, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Yasha had done that deliberately. “If you just head back out to reception, Nott will sort out payment and everything.”

“Alright, thank you so much.” Beau hopped down from the seat and started to walk away, pausing with her hand on the door handle. “Hey, Yasha?”

The taller woman looked up from where she’d began tidying away her inks.

“My phone number is on that consent form I signed. Y’know, just in case you decide there’s something worth sticking around for.”

Resisting the urge to run out the door, Beau waited with bated breath as Yasha blinked at her.

The small smile that Beau loved spread across Yasha’s face again, and she dipped her head. “I’ll bear that in mind. Thank you, Beau.”

Beau nodded coolly, stepping out into the reception area. She waited until the door shut behind her, before fist bumping. “Score! Fuck yes!” Swaggering over to the startled receptionist, Beau couldn’t stop a massive grin from growing. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation making her hallucinate, but she was pretty sure she'd just managed to actually be _smooth _when talking to a pretty girl - Fjord wouldn't believe it.__

“What’s got you so happy?” Asked the girl, eyeing Beau suspiciously.

She shrugged, glancing back over her shoulder at the closed door behind her. “Guess I just really like my new tattoo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Are paramedic/tattoo artist AUs even a thing? Oh well, I'm making it one. First time writing something that isn't an essay in like 7 years so apologies if it's a bit crap! Thanks for reading


End file.
